Karl Rove "Throws" Kentucky's Scott Jennings "Under A BIG RIG", Claims Jennings Was "Freelancing" On ILLEGAL Political Firings Of U. S. Attorneys.

Kentuckian rebuts Rove statements on U.S. attorney firing
By James R. Carroll

WASHINGTON — A Kentuckian who served as an aide to former President George W. Bush's top political adviser Karl Rove took issue Wednesday with Rove's congressional testimony regarding the controversial 2006 firing of one of nine U.S. attorneys.

In that testimony, Rove sought to portray his former aide, Scott Jennings, as a driving force behind the firing. Jennings worked under Rove in the White House's Office of Political Affairs and is now a public relations executive in Louisville.

The firings of the prosecutors touched off a political furor that prompted congressional and Justice Department investigations that have reflected the role played by Rove and other senior aides in the Bush White House.

But Rove, in closed-door congressional testimony last month, said it was Jennings who had “strong feelings” about removing then-U.S. Attorney David Iglesias of New Mexico and was “clearly trying to get Iglesias out,” according to a transcript of his testimony released Tuesday.

Rove also said the ouster of Iglesias was “being provoked by Jennings” and that the Kentuckian was “freelancing” in pushing for the prosecutor's removal.

Jenning's Washington attorney, Mark Paoletta, said Wednesday that “a fair review of the records will show that Scott Jennings' communications concerning the removal of U.S. attorneys were in reaction to complaints he received and passed along, consistent with his responsibilities in the Office of Political Affairs.”

“…The suggestion that Scott may have been ‘freelancing' to remove particular U.S. attorneys, or did not keep his superiors adequately informed about the nature of the complaints, is pure fantasy,” Paoletta said.

Indeed, in separate congressional testimony, former White House counsel Harriet Miers recalled a hardly disinterested Rove talking about Iglesias.

Miers said she received a phone call in the fall of 2006 from a “very agitated” Rove regarding the Iglesias matter.

“It was clear to me that he felt like he has a serious problem and that he wanted something done about it,” Miers testified. “He was just upset. I remember his being upset.”

Iglesias and eight other federal prosecutors were fired in 2006.

Rove's depiction of Jennings pushing for Iglesias' removal also runs counter to the image and reputation of Rove's White House political operation. Sometimes referred to as “Bush's brain,” Rove was known as the shaper of the former president's policies who exercised extreme control over political decisions in the White House.

Thousands of pages of testimony and documents released by the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday show that Rove's office was involved in Iglesias' removal after New Mexico Republicans complained that the U.S. attorney was not acting on allegations of voter fraud.

Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., chairman of the House panel, said the testimony and documents show, contrary to Bush White House claims, that administration political aides were intimately involved in politically motivated firings.

Conyers said the panel had forwarded its documents to special U.S. Attorney Nora Dannehy “to assist in her effort to determine whether federal criminal charges are appropriate and to pursue any such charges."

Rove countered in a statement Tuesday that the House documents "show politics played no role in the Bush administration's removal of U.S. attorneys, that I never sought to influence the conduct of any prosecution, and that I played no role in deciding which U.S. attorneys were retained and which were replaced."

"Rather than relying on partisans selectively quoting testimony or excerpting e-mail messages, I urge anyone interested to review the documents in their entirety," Rove said.

As for Jennings, Paoletta said his client “is hopeful that the documents … will be the final chapter in what has been a long and difficult ordeal.”

“Scott has cooperated with each and every probe and inquiry, to the extent possible, and it continues to be my understanding that he is not a target of special prosecutor Nora Dannehy's criminal investigation,” Paoletta said.

Among thousands of pages of documents the House panel released are scores of internal White House e-mails dealing with the fate of federal prosecutors, including Iglesias.

Before joining the White House, Jennings ran Bush's 2004 presidential campaign in New Mexico.

In one e-mail on Iglesias, Jennings wrote to his immediate superior in the White House political office, Tim Griffin: “Please let me know what else can I do to move this process forward. Is it too early to formulate a list of extremely capable replacements? There are several I know personally and can recommend.”

Rove said in his congressional testimony July 7 that he did not see that e-mail and that “from the review of the documents, he (Jennings) was freelancing a little bit here, apparently.”

Later, Rove was asked about a meeting two New Mexico Republicans had with the Justice Department. The meeting was arranged by Rove's office.

“Was the meeting that was set up by (the Office of Political Affairs) for these two Republican Party leaders part of an effort by OPA or your office to persuade DOJ to replace Mr. Iglesias?” Rove was asked.

“Not by my office and not by me,” Rove answered. “I suspect it is clearly an effort by Scott Jennings to hurry the process along.”

Rove said the meeting was “inappropriate.”

Jennings, Rove said, “should not have set this up without — this should have been set up by (the White House) Counsel's Office, if at all, and it should not have been set up surreptitiously.”

“And what makes you say it was set up surreptitiously?” Rove was asked.

“Because I didn't know about it until after the fact,” Rove answered.

Under an agreement ending a long legal dispute with the former Bush White House, the House committee only interviewed Rove and Miers and has reserved the right to seek public testimony from them.

Editor's note: Check out the U. S. House document releases here.

Yoy can also check out here.

We sure hope that Scott Jennings is NOT "Tarred and Feathered" with Karl Rove.

Update: read an analysis here.